Twin grid casting



June 12, 1945.

H. D. HUNTSBERGER TWIN GRID CASTING Filed Febe 9. 1944 tween the grids.

viding between the twin grids a so-called breakdiagrammatically;

Patented June 12, 1945 UNITED STAT-EsvPATISLRITorrlct:

Herliert D. Huntsberger, Cleveland Heights,y Ohio,x assigner to.` Willard Storage Battery Company, Cleveland; Ohio, a; corporation of West Virg'nil- Application remmaryv 9, 1944,. sanar No;Y 5211*,.e2e a. claims. (ci. 13e-es) f This invention. relates to a; breakapart section between double or twin storage battery grids, and has: for its chiefobject to provide a section which,` after the grid; pasting* (and charging) operation, has'. been.`v completed, canbev broken to separate; the' grids instead of being punched or 'sheared'i asY heretofore. u :jy

It'. has. been. customary for storage-battery manui'acturers toV cast the grids inA pairs: or twin sections with aninterveningsection to facilitate subV sequent economical processing, but the grids must be separated beforefinal use. The twin'grds` are pasted; dri'ed` and then generally charged, and then the individual grids. (-now known as battery plates) areseparatedby punching or shearing the section joining them. This has resultedI inl dis-Y tortion of the grids and jarring of the active materiaior paste and at times inthe d-islodgment Fig. ii-isla sectional View also on an enlar-"g'eitA scale through one'l end portion# of thebreakapa-rt I section showing the adjoining' edge portions or l the two grids in elevation', the section beingtaken'- substantially alongithe line 4--4 of: Fig. 1f loolir-iv in-gf in4 theV directionindicatedz by the arrows;l

and

`Mii

or the' paste yfrom the grids nextto thew section i which is sheared. In some instances, particularly where the plates( are charged inl thebattery-f con y tainer; the grids are separated as explained above' in their-pasted and charged. y

In accordancewith my'invention, the grids are dried condition without being' cast in pairs, the pairs of gridsbeing joined by a section which, after the pasting and? drying stead of being' sheared or punched out from be- This is accomplished by'y proapart section which isprovided centrally thereof with slots and reduced or nali-'thickness portions so arranged that'. the breakpart section maybe rolled out on a splitting-machine without any ap preciab'le distortion of the bottom grid borders j adjoining the breakapart section, without any dislodgment of paste or active material from the Figs. 2 and 3 are transverse sectional views on 'an enlarged scale through the breakapart section and through the adjoining bottom portions of thegrids, said views being taken substantially along the lines 2--2 and 3 3 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

ed'iorm of' loreakafpartv section and adjoining" portionsy of: the grids.

only, the remainder of the g-ridsbeingV shown diagrammatically byfdot and das-he lines','but it' will beunderstood that. the remaining: portions of the grids areL also-ribbed. Between ltheV grid sectionsis my improvedl breakapart section I3v which', as is customary, is attached to A whati's-y normally the bottoms' of the gridswhich in instance are designated ma and lle.l Opp'osite-Y sides of the twinvgrid castinghave'lugs I4 provided' at what are normally the upper ends ofthe The lower porti-onsgoi the gri-ds,- next to* ,the brealia'part section, are@ provided?v with feet grids.

I5A which are adapted toengage upstandi'ng ribs on the bottom of' theV battery container.k

As thel twin grids ,werel formedheret'oi'ore; the

center section holding the two gridstoge'tlier and l which was adapted to be sheare'dv or punched' f from the lower or base` portions oi`v tl'ieA gridsfwas? formeel' substantially as shown in thev Lorrnorf- Patent No. 2,253,280 and in Vthe Kern-s Patent No. v 2,277,234, that is to say, the center "section consisted of threeY solid portions ofsubstantially ther` same thickness* as the grid'l," theseV portions"beingl 4 spaced from the feet of the grids, however, and L .being connected to the bases of the two grids by several spaced reduced or half-thickness portions,A that is by portions approximately one-l half the thickness of the grids. Thev objection to this type of center or breakapartsection is that it is too thick and rigid or stiff-to be,read` ily'broken from the bottoms of the grids, and hence the center section was required to be sheared oft' or punched out, with the attendant disadvantages of distortion of the grid frame and vibration and jarring, frequently resulting inv dling necessary incidentv to trimming, pasting..

tion and therefore without distortion of the bottom sections or borders of the grids and without otherwise damaging the plates by reason of loosening of the paste or active material. However, it is not simply a problem 0f reducing the amount of lead in the breakapart section to facilitate separation of the grids, but involves employing a,

sufficient amount of lead to secure the desired rigidity but so distributed that the unit will not be too difficult to separate on the breakapart machine without damage, distortion or jarring.

In order to obtain these results, I provide the three portions IE of the breakapart section I3 with alternate slots I'I and reduced or half-thickness portions IB. The three portions I6 are joined to the bottoms of the twin grids by reduced or half-thickness portions I9, and, as in y the case of the grids disclosed in the Lormor and Kerns patents referred to above, these three portions are spaced from the feet I5 of the `grids.

After the twin grids have been pasted and dried or pasted, dried and charged, my improved breakapart section enables the two grids to be readily separated by a breaking operation since the stiffness of the center sections i6, while sufiicient for the handling of the casting including the operations of pasting, and drying or pasting, drying and charging, has been greatly reduced. The mechanism for breaking the plates apart and for removing the center section consists of two lower wheels and an upper wheel between which the plates are fed. The lower wheels have anges adapted to bear against the bottom frames or borders Illa and IIa of the plates, while the upper 'wheel has a flange which extends below the plane of the grids and is between the flanges of the lower wheels and bears down upon and depresses or bends the center of the breakapart section at the reduced thickness portions I B, this bendingl serving to bend andbreak ofi the reduced thickness portions I9 at the borders of the plates. The twin plates are simply ied between the lower wheels and the upper wheel. Instead of employing two lowerv wheels, I may utilize a single wheel having spaced anges. In accordance with the invention, the portion I9 of reduced thickness are broken from the bottom frames or border portions I 0a and I Ia without distortion of the grids and without suicient jarring or vibration to cause loosening of the paste or active material from any portions of the plates, as well as without damage to the feet I5.

In Fig. i the'top and middle portions I6 of the breakapart section I3 are joined by a narrow full-thickness section 20 opposite the upper feet I5, I5 of the two grids, this being done to facilitate the iiow of molten lead in the grid casting mold. However, if desired, these two portions of the breakapart section may be entirely separated opposite the upper feet I5, as shown at 2l in Fig. 5. Otherwise the twin grids and the breakapart section are exactly the same as sho-wn in Fig. 1.

Above I have used the expression half-thickness portions but I do not desire to be limited to this as such portions may be greater or less than half the thickness of the grids.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the object of my invention is very effectively attained, and while I have shown two forms of the invention, I do not desire to be confined to the precise details shown and described but aim in my claims to cover all modiiications which do not involve a departurevfrom the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a'twin grid casting for storage batteries, a breakapart section between the grids, said section consisting of center portions connected at intervals by portions of reduced thickness to adjoining portions of the grids, said center portions being provided with alternate slots and portions of reduced thickness extending longitudinally of the breakapart section.

2. In a twin grid casting for storage batteries,- a breakapart section between the grids, said section consisting of center portions connected at in.. tervals by portions of reduced thickness to adjoining portions of the grids, said center portions being provided with alternate slots and portions of reduced thickness extending longitudinally of the breakapart section, the adjoining portions of the grids having feet which are wholly spaced from the center portions of the grids.

3. In a twin grid casting for storage batteries, a breakapart section connected to adjoining portions of the grids by portions of reduced thickness, the adjoining portions of the grids-having feet, the breakapart section consisting of center portions which are spaced apart adjacent the feet of the grids and each center portion being.

provided with one or more open slc-ts and one or more portions of reduced thickness extendin,r

longitudinally of the breakapart section.

HERBERT D. HUNTSBERGER. 

